The Ultimate Nut-Free Real-Food Homemade Granola Recipe

One of my favorite “cheat” snacks is my homemade granola. If you’re someone who’s also allergic to nuts, you know just how hard it is to find a bag of granola that contains only real food ingredients, and ALSO doesn’t contain nuts. It’s the unicorn of granola.

After searching far and wide and for the most part coming up empty, I decided it was time to experiment in the kitchen and take a shot at making my own. Let me tell you something… This is so significantly better than any store-bought granola I’ve ever tasted.

Here’s how to make this magic happen:

• Prep time of five whole minutes.
• Bake time of 45 minutes.
• Yields about 10 cups, or about 20 (1/2 cup) servings.

Ingredients

• 2 cups (300 g) raw unsalted sunflower seeds
• 1 3/4 cups (250 g) raw unsalted pumpkin seeds
• 1 1/3 cups (150 g) golden flaxseed meal
• 1 cup (150 g) unhulled sesame seeds (or an extra 1 cup (150 g) sunflower seeds)
• 2/3 cup (150 g) coconut oil or ghee (clarified butter)
• 3/4 cup (180 ml) pure maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon ground true Ceylon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Line a large baking sheet (a half-sheet pan) with parchment paper.
3. Add the sunflower seeds to a food processor (I use a Vitamix) and pulse until coarsely chopped (not powdered – it should look similar to actual granola).
4. Pulse in the pumpkin seeds to break up the pumpkin seeds a little, leaving most whole.
5. Pour this mixture along with the flaxseed meal and sesame seeds into a large bowl and set aside.
6. Add the coconut oil or ghee, maple syrup, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt to a small saucepan.
7. Heat over medium heat until the coconut oil is melted, which should take about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
8. Pour the coconut oil mixture over the sunflower seed mixture and stir to combine.
9. Spread the granola out onto the prepared baking sheet in an even layer and bake until golden, about 35 to 45 minutes, tossing thoroughly once every 15 minutes.
10. Cool completely and then gently toss to break up the granola.
11. Store in an airtight container at cool room temperature for up to 3 weeks.
12. Enjoy!